Samsung announced Lionel Messi will "serve as 'captain' of its Galaxy 11 ad campaign," according to Michael McCarthy of AD AGE. Samsung also debuted a "cinematic, 60-second video on YouTube" showing Messi "dribbling, dodging and leaping his way past a mysterious group of pursuers." They "finally corner him," and retired football player Franz Beckenbauer offers Messi "a Captain's 'C' to lead the Earth in a winner-take-all match on a virtual pitch against the denizens of a giant alien spaceship hovering overhead." R/GA, S.F., and South Korea-based agency Cheil Worldwide "created the global ad campaign." Samsung in the coming weeks will reveal the 10 other football stars joining Messi "via a microsite and Samsung Mobile social-media channels." Samsung's announcement "capped off a weeks-long teaser campaign called #WinnerTakesEarth, which involved placing alien-like symbols and cryptic messages" at football games in the U.S., Brazil, England, Italy and Germany and landmarks such as Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. Messi previously has appeared in ad campaigns for Samsung (
AD AGE, 11/11).
